Stupid Question but Why do Metro North stations look nicer than LIRR stations?

[lilbluefoxie]

I know this is probably a stupid Question but Why do Metro North stations look nicer than LIRR stations?

 

They have these modern looking stations that are clean and new looking and a lot of the LIRR stations are starting to look dated and some are falling apart.

[mark1447]

I guess stations are properly maintained on MNR. This is for EOH. WOH im not too sure but seems more of an NJT thing.

 

One thing I love about MNR is a lot of the station (Except some) have heater rooms which LIRR lacks in a lot of station.. This included NJT!

[EE Broadway Local]

[gregorygrice]

Alot of MNRR stations have also gone through some rehabilitation and well maintenance.

 

My home Station of White Plains just finished it rehabilitation two months ago with new paint for the whole station, new glass protection film, New Watch the Gap labels of the Platform, other little details:

 

 

[Shortline Bus]

I know this is probably a stupid Question but Why do Metro North stations look nicer than LIRR stations?

 

They have these modern looking stations that are clean and new looking and a lot of the LIRR stations are starting to look dated and some are falling apart.

 

Alot of the answers that the other guys stated are true. However another big reason could be that Metro North does not operate from appx. 2-5am daily as well. Giving time to clean the stations, etc.

 

While on the other hand a few branches of the LIRR runs 24/7, 365 days a year barring bad weather.

[Truckie]

However another big reason could be that Metro North does not operate from appx. 2-5am daily as well. Giving time to clean the stations, etc.

 

 

That's not entirely true. While most of the busy stations do not see any sort of traffic between those times. MNR does operate around the clock. Example, the last weekday Poughkeepsie bound train reaches Poughkeepise @ 3:57am and the first GCT bound train departs @ 4:15am. The Harlem and New Haven Lines have similar turn arounds. However, most stations do not get any attention during those overnight periods. The only stations that have overnight custodians are GCT and White Plains. Most of the others have crews that will pass through maybe once in the daytime (7 to 3) and once in the evening hours (3 to 11). Then there are the e-cleaners that rotate through the stations with pressure washers that mainly work only the daytime hours.

[East New York]

I know this is probably a stupid Question but Why do Metro North stations look nicer than LIRR stations?

 

They have these modern looking stations that are clean and new looking and a lot of the LIRR stations are starting to look dated and some are falling apart.

 

Because one runs through Nassau and the other one doesn't!

 

J/K! Lol!

[gregorygrice]

That's not entirely true. While most of the busy stations do not see any sort of traffic between those times. MNR does operate around the clock. Example, the last weekday Poughkeepsie bound train reaches Poughkeepise @ 3:57am and the first GCT bound train departs @ 4:15am. The Harlem and New Haven Lines have similar turn arounds. However, most stations do not get any attention during those overnight periods. The only stations that have overnight custodians are GCT and White Plains. Most of the others have crews that will pass through maybe once in the daytime (7 to 3) and once in the evening hours (3 to 11). Then there are the e-cleaners that rotate through the stations with pressure washers that mainly work only the daytime hours.

 

Exactly! A lot of our maintenance is done during the day, before and even DURING rush hour. The only real night maintenance is garbage.

[Joel Up Front]

Even in Nassau the LIRR has stations in some of what are considered the "worst" areas of the county, like Freeport or Hempstead... only the most important are maintained. The waiting areas are sealed off and I know they're mainly meant for the early morning crowd... which in itself is discrimination, forcing bus riders out in the elements. The areas under the tracks are dirty and dusty, with some litter from the lazier bus riders, and covered in pigeon crap. I see most of Metro-North's stations are either at ground level or underground, and the underground ones are held to higher standards...

 

And even in the city's MNR stations, they at least have subways running by the stations. Out on LI, if you don't have a car, you need the buses to get around, and buses that go by LIRR stations have no waiting areas (though Freeport does have a nice little snack shop) open to bus riders during the day... but up north, stations are more spread apart.

[Truckie]

I see most of Metro-North's stations are either at ground level or underground, and the underground ones are held to higher standards...

 

Where are there underground Metro North stations?

[Rutgers Tube]

Where are there underground Metro North stations?

 

Yeah, really. Mr. Up Front may have meant that there are stations in open cuts or below the levels of adjacent streets, like New Rochelle, Fordham, Melrose or Tremont. Grand Central Terminal is the only Metro-North stop that I can think of with platforms that are truly underground and within an enclosed structure. GCT isn't a station anyway.

[Nexis4Jersey]

White Plains station is supposed to be replaced later this decade with a muti million dollar new Transit hub.

[TheKorean]

I think some LIRR stations look nice. Like Hempstead, or Jamaica.

[Joel Up Front]

I remember old Jamaica station. What a hunk of crap that was. But still, it's down to cleaning crews not being around often and bums under the tracks.

 

The bathroom thing still gets me, though.

[SouthernRailway]

The overall architecture of Metro-North stations seems better- maybe due to its main predecessor, the New York Central, putting more money into station construction?

 

What I don't get is the crosswalks from the platform on one side of the tracks to another being elevated. Stations in Europe and even Charlotte, NC have underground passageways from one side of the tracks to another, and the distance you have to schlep on the stairs that way is much less.

[jay.rosenthal]

The Hudson and Harlem lines look very nice, but I cannot say the same for some of the New Haven Line stations in Connecticut (Stamford, Bridgeport, Greenwich, New Haven), especially the Waterbury branch, which seems to continue to be neglected on a regular basis and are the only Metro-North stations remaining (with the exception of Waterbury on the Waturbery branch and Merrit 7 on the Danbury Branch) that have low level platforms. Being that CDOT owns the stations in Connecticut, most of the funding comes from CDOT and they're close to broke as it is, if not already operating at a loss. They can't even keep their own equipment on the road, because the Connecticut government decided to procrastinate and not order the M8 cars until beyond the last minute had already ticked by and now commuters are paying the price.

[gregorygrice]

The Hudson and Harlem lines look very nice, but I cannot say the same for some of the New Haven Line stations in Connecticut (Stamford, Bridgeport, Greenwich, New Haven), especially the Waterbury branch, which seems to continue to be neglected on a regular basis and are the only Metro-North stations remaining (with the exception of Waterbury on the Waturbery branch and Merrit 7 on the Danbury Branch) that have low level platforms. Being that CDOT owns the stations in Connecticut, most of the funding comes from CDOT and they're close to broke as it is, if not already operating at a loss. They can't even keep their own equipment on the road, because the Connecticut government decided to procrastinate and not order the M8 cars until beyond the last minute had already ticked by and now commuters are paying the price.

 

Stamford is a well maintained station. last year it recieved new Watch The Gap paint and new Platfrm edge tiles. As for the Waterbury Branch, The stations do not see many passengers.

[AgedPolaris]

Sometimes I think Metro-North just takes an interest in maintaining it's trains and select infrastructure to a slightly higher standard than the LIRR - or perhaps the the problem are the LIRR riders, haha.

 

Metro North does seem to take better care of it's older equipment though. Yes, the M2s can be a bit problematic but they're also a decade older (give or take) than the M3s. They've given full sets (not sure how many) of M3s a completely refurbished interior as well. Not sure how much I like the scheme, (did they have the Mets in mind?) but it's a vast improvement nonetheless. photos:

 

 

 

I remember hearing that the LIRR has one M3 pair that have a refurbished interior, 9893-94, but mostly the LIRR M3s are "decorated with duct tape" and appearances are being neglected. This sucks for fans of the M3 on the LIRR because they're really not that old but look like they're just being beaten around while Helena & crew wait for the money to replace them completely. Until recently, 100% of SEPTA's Silverliner fleet was 10+ years older than the M3s and half the time you'd think you were in a newer car simply because they kept up appearances.

 

As for the LIRR's stations - I can't say all the blame falls with the company. I remember a few years ago when they first opened the new glass enclosed waitings rooms at Valley Stream (the ones up at platform level) and one night in early '09 I got dropped off there to catch a train, and some idiot(s) had vandalized them, and they were taped off from the riding public to use. tsk...tsk... This is why LIRR riders can't have nice things. It's no surprise a lot of station houses lock their doors after the AM commute, no sense inviting in trouble if that's what you'll get. Hey, there's a shack on the shelter dressed in polite scratchiti if it starts to rain! There's a bunch of litter in the corner to complete your LIRR waiting experience, as well. :cool:

[AgedPolaris]

As for the Waterbury Branch, The stations do not see many passengers.

 

I would call the Danbury and Waterbury branches... "rustic" at best.

[gregorygrice]

I would call the Danbury and Waterbury branches... "rustic" at best.

 

Well I ride the first Danbury Branch train every saturday morning, and there is actually a good amount of customers. But yes it can be quiet at times.

[Truckie]

Well I ride the first Danbury Branch train every saturday morning, and there is actually a good amount of customers. But yes it can be quiet at times.

 

You have to understand there's only six trains a day that go to Danbury and another six that leave Danbury on weekend days so those few trains should be busy. Broken down the amount of riders compared to the main lines are few.

[KeystoneRegional]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[SouthernRailway]

Also, for the LIRR, so much of Long Island was built up only in the '50s and later, when passenger rail was having a lot of financial problems, and stations were perhaps built more as inexpensive "park 'n ride" stops for new suburban areas, with little more than a platform and a tiny box since people could wait in their cars, vs. older Metro-North stations that were built by the New Haven and NY Central Railroads when they were doing well (1920s and earlier), and when they were built, they were in centers of existing towns, and were not originally intended to serve passengers who'd just wait in their cars- thus Metro-North stations are higher-quality construction and seem so often to be "real" train stations.

 

Just a hypothesis, but it's my take.

 

Sidenote: what's the point in having two separate railroads when the MTA runs both of them? Why not merge them together? I recall the MTA thought about this a few years ago but didn't proceed.

[Joel Up Front]

I take the 2:10 PM from Babylon to Penn every Monday and Wednesday but it's really not that busy... maybe it's because it's mid-afternoon and everyone is working already, but I wonder what it's like morning and evening rush hour...

 

I still stand by the more people around LIRR stations theory, and that most stations were built at the same time.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I went once for a dinner at the Oheka Castle in Huntington and another time to meet a client out near Mineola and I thought the stations looked fine. A bit confusing to get out to get to the taxi area, but other than that I had no problems. However, for the price, the trains aren't that comfy and quite frankly I think the interiors especially are outdated.